Bobcats

It isn't often that a player on a 10-day contract catches the eye of a team and hangs around. The 76ers have already used a pair each on two players, Maalik Wayns and Shelvin Mack, and in each instance the Sixers said goodbye. But after an impressive night against a not-too-impressive team, is Jeremy Pargo showing he can defy the odds? Pargo, who had been waiting for teams to call him after being released by Cleveland Jan. 22, suited up for the Sixers for the first time Saturday and played more than 29 minutes in an 87-76 victory over the lowly Charlotte Bobcats in front of 15,048 at the Wells Fargo Center.

Things began so promisingly for the Charlotte Bobcats this season. But as they prepare for Saturday's game at the Wells Fargo Center against the 76ers, the struggles of last season have resurfaced on a team that has a distinct Philadelphia area flavor. Last year, the Bobcats went 7-59 in the shortened NBA season. But with an infusion of enthusiasm from first-year coach Mike Dunlap this season, Charlotte got off to a 7-5 start, matching last season's win total in just 12 games. Since then, however, Charlotte has gone 4-32 heading into Friday's home game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Charlotte Bobcats rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist suffered a concussion in Saturday's fourth-quarter collision with teammate Jeff Taylor in Houston. The Camden native, the second overall pick in last year's draft, went up to defend Toney Douglas' layup attempt early in the fourth quarter on Saturday night. Taylor swooped in and his right hip connected with the back of Kidd-Gilchrist's head. Kidd-Gilchrist lay motionless for several minutes. The athletic training staffs from both teams came out to check on him, and the entire Charlotte bench eventually surrounded him. Medical personnel fit Kidd-Gilchrist with a neck brace.

Stefanie Ulmer hit a layup as time expired to lift Franklin Towne Charter over Engineering & Science, 32-31, in a Public League girls' basketball game Friday. With Engineering & Science trailing, 30-29, Aaliyah Worley hit a pair of free throws with 25 seconds left to put the Engineers ahead by a point. With 0.7 of a second remaining, Ulmer caught an inbounds pass under the basket and converted a layup as the buzzer sounded. Ulmer finished the game with 21 points and nine rebounds.

Rajon Rondo scored 17 points with 12 assists and 10 rebounds on Monday night to lead the Boston Celtics to a 100-89 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats. It was Rondo's third triple-double of the season and the 26th of his career, including playoffs. Paul Pierce scored 19 and Avery Bradley added 16 for Boston, which won for a season-high sixth consecutive game. Hakim Warrick and Ramon Sessions had 16 points apiece for the Bobcats, who lost their third straight and their 23d in the last 25 games since opening the season 7-5. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored 10 with eight rebounds.

The defending champion Miami Heat handed the Bobcats their 16th straight loss, a 105-92 pounding Wednesday night in Charlotte, N.C. LeBron James had 27 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists, and Dwyane Wade had 29 points and nine rebounds as Miami extended its winning streak to six. The Bobcats haven't won since Nov. 24. Elsewhere: Tristan Thompson's three-point play with 24.4 seconds remaining gave the Cavaliers their first two-game winning...

CARMELO ANTHONY scored 22 of his 30 points in the first quarter, and the New York Knicks held on after he departed with a sprained left ankle to beat the visiting Los Angeles Lakers, 116-107, on Thursday night in coach Mike D'Antoni's return to Madison Square Garden. Firing in three-pointers and moving the ball to open shooters, things they often struggled to do under D'Antoni, the Knicks won for the eighth time in nine games and improved to 9-0 at home for the first time since the 1992-93 season.

The San Antonio Spurs set a franchise record with 19 three-pointers to hand the Bobcats their seventh straight defeat, a 132-102 pounding Saturday night in Charlotte, N.C. Danny Green scored 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting from three-point range as the Spurs shot 56 percent from behind the arc. Tony Parker had 22 points and nine assists as the Spurs won for the ninth time in 10 games to push their record to 17-4. The two were a combined 18 of 22 from the field. Parker scored 11 points in the third quarter and Green had eight as the Spurs pulled away for good.

AFTER six games in 8 days on the East Coast, you might think the Portland Trail Blazers might be ready to run out of steam. You'd be wrong. LaMarcus Aldridge had 25 points and 13 rebounds, Luke Babbitt hit a pair of clutch three-pointers and Portland overcame an 18-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the host Charlotte Bobcats, 118-112, in overtime Monday night. The Blazers trailed by 97-79 with 5:17 left in regulation but stormed back to tie the score and sent it into overtime on Babbitt's three with 22 seconds left.

The last time the 76ers played a lightly regarded team on the road, the results weren't what coach Doug Collins or any of the players expected. Going into Cleveland to face a Cavaliers team without injured point guard Kyrie Irving, the Sixers suffered a 92-83 loss on Nov. 21, the night before Thanksgiving. In the win, Cleveland shot 13 for 23 from three-point range. So, after three home games, the Sixers (9-6) hit the road Friday against another low-profile, albeit vastly improved, squad, the Charlotte Bobcats.